


Nature vs. Nurture

by Miles_2_Go



Series: Whumptober 2020 [2]
Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010), Red Hood: Lost Days
Genre: Enemies to Friends, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Sickfic, Whump, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:21:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26882836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miles_2_Go/pseuds/Miles_2_Go
Summary: Jason is traversing the globe, training to take down Batman, when he meets a certain someone for the first time.----“Kill her.” That was all they told him, and that didn’t really work for him. Jason wasn’t one to follow orders blindly, and he especially wasn’t one to just kill someone without a damn good reason. And she was just a girl; his age, maybe a little older. Eighteen, nineteen at the most.But she wasn’t really giving him a choice. “Kill him,” they’d said, and she’d lunged without hesitation, without question.----No 7. I’VE GOT YOUSupport | Carrying | Enemy to Caretaker
Relationships: Cassandra Cain & Jason Todd
Series: Whumptober 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1959742
Comments: 7
Kudos: 120
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Nature vs. Nurture

“Kill her.” That was all they told him, and that didn’t really work for him. Jason wasn’t one to follow orders blindly, and he especially wasn’t one to just kill someone without a damn good reason. And she was just a girl; his age, maybe a little older. Eighteen, nineteen at the most.

But she wasn’t really giving him a choice. “Kill him,” they’d said, and she’d lunged without hesitation, without question.

She moved with the fluidity and grace of a dancer, but she had the razor-sharp edges and confidence of a killer. A good one.

No way was Jason taking her in a straight fight. He needed an advantage, needed a leg up somehow.

He needed to regroup.

So that’s what he did. She lunged, and Jason turned on his heel and ran.

They sprinted and leapt through the cold Russian cityscape, spinning and twisting around each other, partners in a deadly dance.

Then Jason slipped up, because of course he did. He was never a match for this girl, and the people who had pit them against each other, the people who were supposed to be  _ training _ him, had known that—they were trying to get rid of him. Talia had known that, too, that was why she’d sent him here. She thought by repeatedly setting him up with “teachers” who were the kind of people who clearly needed putting down that she was distracting him from his crusade against Batman. He let her believe that while he used each opportunity to hone his skills and curb the Pit’s thirst for blood.

But he’d bitten off more than he could chew this time, and as he lay on his back in a dirty Russian alley with a piece of rebar poking out through his shin he wondered if Talia would put him in the Pit a second time.

He wondered if he wanted that.

He wasn’t entirely sure this girl spoke English. Hadn’t heard a word from her since they’d met. There was an astonishing intelligence in her almond eyes, but the mask over her silent mouth hid secrets.

He tried anyway.

“Look,” he said, doing his best to scramble back from her, the boot on his good leg scrambling for purchase on the icy concrete, palms scraping as he shoved himself away from her. “You don’t have to do everything they say, you know? You’re smarter than them, I can tell. You’re  _ better _ than them. Why do you listen to them? Look at you, you don’t even  _ need _ them.”

She’d been taking slow, languid strides toward him, but her steps faltered ever so slightly and she tilted her dark head at him curiously. He took that as an incentive to keep talking. It’s not like he could do anything else, anyway.

“Is this what you want? To follow orders like a dog? To do everything they say?”

They’d fought side by side for a while before they’d been turned against each other. He’d trained with her. He’d seen her hesitate before. Seen the lighting-quick flit of a question in her eyes, the microscopic hint of dissent trying to find purchase. He could work with that.

“I know you don’t like killing.”

Her prowl came to an abrupt halt, her small feet stilling. Her eyes narrowed, hardened.

Maybe he’d miscalculated, but it was full steam ahead at this point, he didn’t have any other options.

“You could just leave.” He licked his lips, hesitating. Did he really want to do this? If he did, he would just be creating more problems for himself later.

But it would mean there  _ was _ a later for him.

“I know a place you could go. Someone who could help.”

He’d rather the girl just came with him, but Talia wouldn’t help her, he knew. Talia would never take Lady Shiva’s kid under her wing. She’d sooner kill her.

So that only left…

“Batman. In Gotham? Heard of him?”

Her eyes were still narrow, but the hardness gave way to something else. Something curious. She tilted her head again.

“He’s got a thing for strays. If you go to him, he’ll help you. Give you a place to stay. They won’t come after you there. Can’t. He’d stop them. And he doesn’t kill.” Jason tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice.

Yeah, this was definitely a stupid idea, he knew it. Sending her to Bruce just meant that Jason would have to take her down when he went after Batman. But if that got him out of this moment alive, fine. He could deal with it, plan for it.

He’d be ready for her then. Better than her.

Something in her expression changed. Solidified as she came to a decision. She stepped forward and Jason stilled, braced himself…

And then she extended a small, strong hand down to him.

He let out the breath he’d been holding and took it.

She hauled him up and he bit back a cry as his bad leg buckled underneath him, but she was quick and sure and she tucked her tiny body underneath his arm. He’d had a growth spurt, after the Pit, and he’d been bulking up more and more since then, but her small frame was surprisingly strong and she supported his weight easily as they made their way slowly out of the alley.

——

They had to hide in the city, their teachers no doubt looking for them when neither of them returned toting the other’s scalp as a trophy. Jason sent Talia a message the second he was able, but she was across the world, it would take her a few days to reach him.

In the meantime, his leg was infected.

The girl, surprisingly, hadn’t abandoned him the moment he’d become an inconvenience. He wondered where that came from, that streak of...was it compassion? Raised by Cain and Shiva, passed from lethal teacher to teacher, brought up to be nothing but a killing machine—where had she picked up  _ that _ particular trait?

There was something to be said about nature vs nurture here, but Jason was too foggy at the moment to grasp it.

They found some hovel at the edge of the city to hole up in. She’d pulled the rebar from his leg and he’d promptly passed out from the pain because  _ holy shit. _ He’d woken up to find that she’d done a pretty good job of patching it up with the limited resources they had, but it evidently hadn’t been enough to stop infection from setting in. It had only been a day before he’d felt the heat settling into it, a hot, itchy throb that he was all too familiar with, having experienced infection plenty of times as a scrappy kid on the streets with little access to sanitary first aid.

The fever hadn’t taken long to get its clutches into him. He tossed and turned on the pile of dirty blankets they’d scrounged up, sinking in and out of fever dreams and nightmares.

Sometimes a cool, small hand in his hair eased him out of one before it could begin.

Eventually a feminine voice pierced the fog. A familiar posh accent with a no-nonsense tone that hid the softness he knew was behind it somewhere.

He blinked himself awake to find that he was alone with Talia in the small, dingy room. She hovered over him, her brow pinched in a rare expression of concern. He rolled his head from side to side, searching the room for a small, dark head that he knew he wouldn’t find.

He wondered if the memory of a quiet, raspy voice humming lullabies to him while he slept had been a dream.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment if you like this fic, comments are what keep me going. :)


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